A fight between Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg isn't even close to being made, but that hasn't stopped Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White from predicting its success.
And he isn't being modest, either.
During his recent guest spot on "The Jim Rome Show," White adamantly predicted that if the two most-talented females in mixed martial arts (MMA) today ever get locked inside the Octagon, he guaranteed the long-awaited grudge match would reach 2 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys.
No, that's not a typo (via MMA Fighting).
"I don't know [who wins], I think that's why the fight is so exciting. There's no denying that Cyborg's a beast, man. She's tough, and many people believe -- including me -- that Ronda's the best in the world and the best female fighter ever. So it's one of those fights that's very intriguing. And I'll tell you this, Jim, when that fight happens I guarantee you that fight does over two million pay-per-view buys. It will be massive."
Nothing wrong with being confident, though that means White will have to kick his promoter game to the next level, too. I'm thinking something along the lines of this.
You know he'll be up for the challenge because it's a lucrative match up White wants that fight in a bad way.
"I want that fight. Ronda wants that fight, and I think everybody else wants to see that fight. Supposedly, sometime before the end of this year [Cyborg]'s supposed to cut down to 135 pounds, she will fight in Invicta, and if she fights that fight and wins, then Ronda will be next."
To date, UFC's biggest PPV event was UFC 100, which drew in an estimated 1.5 million buys. Of course, that event featured two of the company's biggest box office draws in Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre.
And while there hasn't been a shortage of roadblocks that have prevented the fight between Rousey and Cyborg from going down, they are, slowly but surely, getting moved out of the way.
For starters, Cris is now officially under contract with UFC. All she has to do now is win her next fight under the Invicta FC banner in the bantamweight division. Once she does that, "Rowdy" will be more than happy to grant her a title fight ... as long as Cyborg doesn't let the process drag out.
If and when the fight happens, will it be the box office smash a confident White claims it'll be?